Organizational+Meeting

In this first meeting, we outlined a preliminary list of topics/questions to discuss in the meeting. Here's a first attempt at grouping this list in a few categories:

I: Gravitational Waves from Mergers a) How does LIGO work? i) calibration b) What can LIGO teach us about neutron stars (masses, spin, ...)? c) LIGO and Beyond (prospects for the future) d) Are all GW templates in hand, what is the parameter space? e) Open questions in numerical relativity f) Tests of General Relativity

II: Electromagnetic (EM) signals from Mergers a) EM facilities b) EM analysis - How variable is the sky? i) How many false positives do we get? c) What can we learn from EM signatures: simulations, nuclear physics, radio, jets, particle acceleration? d) formation of the post-merger accretion disk e) GRB central engines f) differences between collapse and merger jet formation g) GRB blast wave physics

III: LIGO and EM combined a) LIGO follow-up of EM sources b) How to organize follow-up c) Tying GW and EM together - what information is complementary? d) Can we tell the difference between NS-NS and BH-NS mergers? e) What's left out of existing simulations? What are the consequences?

IV: Related science a) Structure of NSs b) What do we know (can we learn) from pulsars and X-ray binaries - masses, spins c) What can we learn about Supernovae from GWs? d) Pulsar Timing Array e) How do we calculate rates of mergers and what are the uncertainties? f) What do we know about the nearby galaxy distribution?